Where does your motivation come from?

I’ve had a few interesting things happen since I started writing this blog. I’ve had fantastic feedback, met some new people (virtually) and learned a thing or two along the way. When you post things up on the internet you kind of go off on a whim and hope that people will enjoy and take an interest in what you put out there but you never know who, if anyone is actually reading or paying attention to what you are saying.

  

I was speaking with someone (a blog reader) recently about health and fitness and motivation (which sparked this post) and had the following thoughts in regards to reaching your health and fitness goals, however, really they apply to any goal you reach for:

• Motivation is the key ingredient to attaining your goals
• Small attainable goals make it so much easier to achieve the much larger accomplishment that you are  aiming for
• Everyone wants to feel good about themselves and when you have smaller more manageable steps to take it makes it easier to accomplish things and provides a “winning” feeling, which in turns sets the motivation back in motion
• People often find themselves overwhelmed and feel that they have to miss out or lose out to get to what they are reaching for

So, the question is how do you find your motivation or what motivates you? We’re all different; we are all motivated by different means. Find your motivation and you’ll attain those goals that sometimes seem to be just outside of your reach.

I’m not sure of what my motivation was to take charge of my life. The verdict is still out on that one. Was it a book I read, was it something someone said, was I tired of how I felt, did I reach a birthday and realize that I wasn’t who and where I wanted to be? Most likely a combination of all those things, whatever it was it doesn’t matter, I found motivation somewhere and went with it.

When I decided to tackle my weight issue and joined Weight Watchers all those years ago I had two main motivators, those are clear:

1. Competition – my sister joined with me to provide support, I always thought she was the competitive one however it seems we both share that trait (she just has more of it).
2. Exercise points – the more I exercised and the harder the type of exercise the more I was allowed to eat on the program

Not only was it a competitive game between my sister and I but it was a competition with the group of people that were all there together. There’s something to be said about the power of people and being accountable for that number on the scale, not only to you but to others as well.

The points system helped empower me, it put the controller back in my hands, and it pushed me to try new things and to become creative, therefore giving me more options and a greater level of self esteem each time I reached a new level of achievement.

My motivation to step away from the Weight Watchers program came when the plateau I was on seemed to have no end in sight.

My motivation as to why I started to study nutrition was mainly for my daughter’s health issues, which thankfully have improved dramatically, however I don’t believe I can attribute them to her dietary habits.

I found new knowledge and pursued a different path, totally entered into a world of the unknown out of my comfort zone but I kept an open mind and it was worth it.

Motivation to keep going – I found myself, there is no going back. I've learned my lessons and none of them were easy.